The article is entitled Nigeria: The Brain Behind the Nigerian Blog Awards and I hope you’ll learn one or two things about the NBAs from reading it. If the interview sparks any questions or comments, please share it on the Global Voices site or here. Thank you!

Hello there! It’s been nearly two months and I apologize for the silence.

Before we return to our next blog feature, I’d like you to take note of the following, an initiative organized by Loy Okezie, a fellow Nigerian and blogger, whose area of interest and expertise is (among other things) technology, social media and online marketing. There are many Nigerians who are working hard to link Nigerians within Nigeria and around the world together, and Nigerian Blog Awards is pleased to support this initiative.

C O N N E C T N I G E R I A . C O M
I’m excited to introduce to you a new information search portal for Nigeria (www.connectnigeria.com) which offers a new way for millions of people to search and find local information about Nigeria.

You can also enter your email address in the form below, if you would like us to expose your blog’s content to our audience for free.

If you’d like your blog to be listed on the Connect Nigeria website, please leave your contact information and blog name below.

If you have any questions or require additional information, let us know in the comments. Don’t forget to follow Connect Nigeria on twitter.

Bola Abodunde (also known as Onada) runs The Fab Bride a wedding resource blog geared toward Philadelphia-based brides. There are also Nigerians blogging about various elements of preparing for the wedding day, including coordination of the big day: BCG Events, Bfab Events, Events by Doyin and Zuribelle.

If you enjoy looking at pictures from other weddings to see how others prepared for their special day, then you must visit Naija Wed N More. There are other sites that have featured wedding websites in the past, but many have not been updated in the last six months.

Finally we end with Nigerian photographers who feature Nigerian weddings on their sites (link provided is to the wedding section of the website): Dotun Ayodeji, Fola Adewole and Tunji Sarumi.

If you have other wedding websites to add to the ones listed above, please leave them in the comments.

Featured categories
Every other week, we will feature a different category of blog, and list all the submitted blogs that fall under that category. An upcoming entry will feature the schedule of categories and you are welcome to submit your blog for, using an online form that will be provided for that purpose. Now if I was working my dream job where I was able to blog for a living, I’d have the time to visit all the blogs listed on the right, figure out the category it fits under, and write a nice little paragraph or two on your blog. Unfortunately that isn’t my reality, so your blog will be simply listed and hopefully a word or two will be said about it if time permits. Only people who submit their blog using the form will be listed and blogs that clearly don’t belong to the category will not be listed. If you like to read blogs that follow a common theme then you will really enjoy the feature.

The first category that will be featured on September 20 is wedding blogs! If your blog features (or featured) your wedding or talks about any other aspect of weddings (basically there must be a strong focus on some aspect of weddings; not just an entry or two), please send an email to nigerianblogawards@gmail.com indicating the name of your blog and the web address of your blog (after this, all other blogs that fall under a category will be gathered using the online form). Please note that any blogs submitted must follow the same guidelines as blogs that are submitted for listing on this site. They must:

1. be written by a Nigerian or have a strong focus on Nigeria
2. have been updated in the last six months
3. be a public blog.

If your blog or a blog you read qualifies, and is a wedding blog, by all means, send that email.

The goal of this initiative is to allow you to easily discover new blogs to add to your list if you like to read a certain category of blog. The categories will be listed on a separate page as they are featured, so you will have one more way of searching for your favourite Nigerian blogs on this site.

We continue to receive twitter messages and emails asking for blogs to be added to the list on the right. Thank you and keep your requests coming!

But what I really wanted to do today was take the time to thank one of the ladies who has been working behind the scenes to make the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards happen. That lady is happyBBB (blog, twitter)!

I don’t even know where to start when talking about what her help has meant to me. When I originally asked for helpers via twitter, she was the last person to express interest but from day 1 she has been there to do whatever I asked. Not only did she do it, she did it efficiently, she did it quickly (practically before I finished asking her) and she never complained. She also took initiative and went that extra step, something not everyone is comfortable doing (I know, I sound like I’m writing a reference letter!). Although I often didn’t give her much notice, she never brushed me off or made me feel like I was bothering her (though I was, who am I kidding?). If you missed her post on giving blogville’s anonymous residents a face, check it out!

happyBBB, I just wanted to let you know that I can honestly say that I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for all your help and I hope you’ll consider helping out next year!

Because of her contributions to building the blogging community, and the numerous ways in which she has shown her support for the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards, it was easy to decide to grant Sting the first interview on this site.

THE BLOGGER

Tell us a bit about yourself, in particular one or two things that we may not know about you from reading your blog.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on my blog, but I actually have 8 sisters and 1 brother. I come from a family of beautiful women as my father likes to say. I’m actually very quiet when you meet me in person and I tend to be very goofy and talk a lot of smack when I’m happy.

You’re in medical school, and you’ve spoken quite frankly about the challenges of your journey. Do you want to comment on that?

Maybe it’s just me trying to rationalize and come to terms with the way this journey is unfolding, but I feel that I’m meant to be an inspiration to others. By the time I’m done, I would have a story to tell. I’m hoping it’s a story that inspires others to believe in themselves and never give up on their dreams. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor and the day that I got accepted into medical school remains the happiest day of my life. As tough as it has been, I don’t see myself doing anything else with my life.

You’ve mentioned on your blog that you believe you’re meant to be a mentor or a motivational speaker in the future. How have you been working on these goals of yours?

I am currently in the process of becoming a video mentor for an orphan child in South Africa. I procrastinated a little bit on that one, that’s why I haven’t actually started but it’s something that I’m really looking forward to doing. I have other projects that I know I will be a part of as time goes on and I’ll be sure to share them on my blog.

ON BLOGGING

How long have you been blogging?

I started blogging January 23rd 2007 and I remember so clearly because I had just been unceremoniously dumped by this Jamaican dude I was dating (As you can see my relationship woes was the catalyst for my foray into blogging). I needed an outlet and found blogging to be very therapeutic. I’ve always kept journals before I started blogging, so for me blogging had the same effect as writing in a journal only that I had a mostly supportive audience.

Your blog covers a range of topics, but relationships is arguably the most discussed topic. How does one girl have so many man woes/relationship gist?

Please, help me ask the brothers o! I don’t know how I meet these guys. For someone who is pretty much a homebody, I tend to have more than my fair share of relationship gist. I think the main reason I have a lot of guys “around” is that I’m easy to talk to. A lot of them say they like the fact that I’m down to earth and I’m usually not what they would expect from looking at me. They expect me to be stuck up or whatever and I’m not and they get sucked in. That’s where the relationship drama starts. As for the woes part of the equation, you can blame that solely on my love for fine boys. It clouds my judgment, but I’m learning sha!

Do you feel your blog paints an accurate picture of who you are?

I’m not exactly sure of the impression people get of me after reading my blog. I know that I tend to blog more when I’m sad or depressed as opposed to when I’m happy. I don’t know if people get a complete picture of how I am from my blog because I can be very goofy and mouthy and I don’t think you get see that on my blog. However, I have been told by a fellow blogger that I talk the way I write. So accurate, yes. Complete, no.

ON BLOG(S)VILLE

What does Blog(s)ville mean to you?

Blogsville is a sanctuary. For the most part we tend to be supportive of each other. Thank God the outbreak of the vicious “anonymous” we had a couple of years ago did not last long. I absolutely love how we Nigerians tend to find each other anywhere. I mean, there are thousands of blogs out there and I’m amazed that we’ve been able to come together and form this online community. I love that.

You have taken the lead on several Blog(s)ville community-building initiatives (the weightloss blog, Blog(s)ville Gist and last year’s Naija Bloggers’ Awards). Where do your ideas come from?

For the most part, the ideas come from the frontal cortex of my brain. LOL. Seriously though, I’m just interested in ways that can bring us closer as a community and make people feel like they are a part of something. I’m always interested in meeting new bloggers and discovering new blogs and that’s where the idea for Blog(s)Ville Gist came from. I realize that at times for a newbie blogger, things might seem a little cliquey and I figured if we had a way to introduce them, that might help break the ice a little bit. I’m all for anything that came brings us closer together and help us discover each other.

Have you met any bloggers in person? Would you? Why or why not?

I haven’t met any blogger in person. I don’t even know how you guys manage to achieve that. What’s the secret? Is it twitter? I’ve only made one friend from blogsville so far, Simeon. We haven’t met but we talk on skype and I think he’s a really cool dude. I definitely wouldn’t mind meeting more bloggers. I have spied a couple on facebook, but I haven’t extended myself. I am definitely open to meeting bloggers, for sure.

Who would you want to meet and why?

There have been a lot of bloggers who have been very supportive at times when I was going through difficult times, those are the bloggers I would like to meet. Anyone who has ever left a comment or taken time to send me an email, I just want to use this medium to let you know how much I appreciate that and I think you guys are awesome.

Would you or have you ever entered into a relationship with someone on Blog(s)ville or twitter? What are your thoughts on this?

I have never entered a relationship with anyone on blogsville or twitter. I don’t even like twitter so I’m hardly ever on there. It really doesn’t matter to me where I meet someone. Blogger, twitter, facebook, on the street, in the store, school, whatever. It makes no difference to me.

What are your thoughts on anonymity in Blog(s)ville (or in online communities in general)?

The blog I have right now is my 4th blog. The main reason I deleted my previous 3 blogs is because I was trying to preserve my anonymity. Back then, I needed a sanctuary where I felt comfortable enough to pour out my deepest thoughts and I wanted to be free to do that. I think that’s why a lot of us Nigerian bloggers are anonymous. We want to be free to write whatever we want however we want it without fear of being judged. You how Nigerians can be very judgmental and we too like to spread gist. However, I no longer crave the anonymity like I once did because that time has passed and I’m no longer in that place. I am partial to Nigerian bloggers who are not anonymous. I have flirted with the idea of “unmasking” myself but I haven’t decided what to do yet. I think it would be really cool if more of us were not anonymous. Let’s consider that for 2011 :) Yes, we can!!!!

Name some of your favourite blogs on Blog(s)ville, and your non-Blog(s)ville favourites.

Just like in real life, I like people who makes me laugh, so also in blogsville I like bloggers who make me laugh, for example Nice Anon, Verastic, SugarKing and there’s this new blogger I just discovered Sisi Yemmie. Pretty much if you write a funny post, you are my favorite for the day. I don’t discriminate. Besides the funny bloggers, I like Ms. Nitty Gritty (I think she’s very interesting and she keeps it real), FFF (I like her pidgin english speaking ways) and Africana Wardrode Diary (I love her sense of style). My all time favorite non-blogsville blogger is Don’t eat my Buchela(s). Absolutely gorgeous kids.

We appreciate Sting taking the time to answer our questions and letting us get to know her better. If you have any other questions for sting or want to learn more about her, please leave a comment or visit her blog.

As the awards wind down, things will be busier on this blog. Check back this week for the following:

• an interview with sting, the blogger responsible for last year’s Naija Bloggers’ Awards and Blog(s)ville Gist in addition to her personal blog
• a feature of this year’s helpers
• a new poll

Do you have a suggestion of a category that should be included in the 2011 awards for either Group A or Group B categories? Let us know in the comments!

If you’ve seen any creative ways in which bloggers have solicited nominations, share those too!